Ah, the pressure to be a yummy mummy.
It’s not enough that we grow and deliver a healthy baby, we’re also expected to stride out of hospital in our pre-pregnancy jeans and high heels, the very image of maternal chic.
Seriously, who does that?
I couldn’t even walk in those shoes before I had kids, so there was no way I was going to risk a spill and wear them carrying a precious baby or wrangling a toddler.
Why do we put such pressure on ourselves to prove to the world that we can do it all—have a family and look a million bucks?
I love flipping through magazines and looking at pictures of Angelina Jolie or Heidi Klum and I might even grudgingly (or secretly) envy Victoria Beckham with her stylish sleek dresses and life of luxury . . . but they’re not the mums I look up to. To me, they’re not real. Maybe their life is a lot more like mine that I realise—late nights cleaning up vomit, finding lost teddies, breaking up fights and getting everyone to the table for dinner—but they do so with a wealth of support and round-the-clock staff.
Don’t get me wrong, I love looking at what they wear and will admit to taking the odd supermodel photo to my hairdresser for that post-birth I’ve-had-my-hair-in-a-ponytail-for-twelve-months haircut, but that’s as far as it goes.
And aren’t we sick of hearing about mammoth weight drops? Who achieves the best post-baby body the quickest? What horrid pressure! Every morning spent with their trainer is one less with their gorgeous newborn.
Then there are the gorgeous stars who smile at me from the cover of a magazine with the caption ‘How I plan to regain my famous figure’. Isn’t it more important how she plans to raise a child in Hollywood and keep him or her normal? Mind you, I’ll read the article anyway—with a large dose of jealousy—then remind myself she is probably only 25 and her career does depend on the size of her butt.
Of course, exercise, health and feeling good about yourself after giving birth is vital, but it’s not a race. Motherhood has become way too competitive anyway: whose baby sleeps all night, walks first, speaks first, counts to a hundred. As mums, let’s ease up on ourselves and each other. Sure, having a baby changes your body, but it also changes your life. Let’s talk about how content and happy a new mother looks, not how long it’s taking her to get a flat tummy.
Every mummy is yummy. For some it’s their job to be a size zero. They employ chefs, trainers and probably had damn good genes to start with.
Of course we all want to lose the baby weight and we need to keep ourselves strong and well for our baby’s sake as much as our own.
And exercising and feeling good about yourself is so important to the mental health and wellbeing of every new mum.
But we also need to be happy, healthy, proud and satisfied. At the end of the day your baby’s contentment is really all that matters.